10.26.2004

murder statistics

According to the FBI, the number of murders has risen for the fourth year straight to 16,500 in 2003 — or, as the A.P. puts it, "almost six murders for every 100,000 U.S. residents." Or, as I figure it, one out every 16,666 people were murdered last year. That's cool because 16,500 and 16,666 are so close.

So, based on a population of an even 293,000,000 (I think the A.P. is using old pop. figures), if we have 17117 murders this year, that means everyone also has a 1 in 17117 chance of being murdered. I love it when things come out even like that. It's uhh.. something to shoot for, I guess.